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Saturday, November 9, 2013

Suffering from ‘traveler’s – not writer’s – block’

Have you ever suffered from ‘Traveler’s block’?

Its symptoms are brought on by taking a fabulous trip through lands (and waters) that were previously unknown to you and then, after returning home, when you are trying to tell others what you’ve seen and experienced, your memories are so jammed into your head that it’s a struggle to get them out in some semblance of order.

The ship's navigational map kept track of us

Our month-long trip slicing through the South Pacific was so sensory stimulating that we both admitted we were looking forward to that bottom-busting 17 hour flight home, simply to decompress and get those memories in order. Two weeks later we still are suffering ‘traveler’s block’.

I took pages of notes and hundreds of photos of places and people that I want to introduce to you. (Please, don’t unsubscribe. . .I promise not to overwhelm you!)

And I’ve started at least five posts, but can’t decide what to tell you first. . .

So today I decided to give you a sample of what is to come in future posts:

Hula class, anyone? Just one of the activities offered on board

How to Savor – not just survive – long days at sea. We had 12 days at sea on this cruise; that means days where the only thing we saw from morning to night were endless stretches of the Pacific Ocean. No birds, no planes, no boats, no sea life. Just sea and sky.

Just the thought of that makes some uncomfortable and those folks probably shouldn’t sign up for a repositioning cruise that crosses the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans.

The reality is there were so many activities offered that you couldn’t keep up with them or yourself. Each day they began at 6 a.m. and ended after midnight.

By Invitation Only Champagne Party . . .why were we there? You'll have to stay tuned.

By Invitation Only: We will take you to some of the events we attended on board that were ‘by invitation only’ like a sail-away-from-Hawaii cocktail party held on the normally off-limits helicopter landing pad.

The beauty of Bora Bora was evident from every spot on the island

The Islands of the South Pacific: I’ve concluded that when God made heaven, he spilled some drops in the process. . .those are now islands in the South Pacific. The magnitude of the beauty of the islands and their residents is difficult to capture in printed word and photo – but I will give it a try.

We will go back to Russell, New Zealand - in the Bay of Islands

The surprises: We had both places and people surprises along the way. Places, like New Zealand’s Bay of Islands, a place that we’d likely never have picked out of a destination list on our own, but that charmed the pants right off of us!

And people, well,. . . we had some surprises. More on that soon.

Sydney, Australia

Sydney and the Land Down Under! I was the ambivalent one when it came to Sydney and Australia. . .yes, it would be nice to go there, but it fell in the ‘someday’ category on my bucket list. Well, I can tell you that after five nights in Sydney, I am ready to return – soon! The iconic Opera House and Bridge but the tip of the iceberg on wonderful experiences to be had in this art- and fashion-filled city with a population of millions (4.57 in 2010)

We know your time is in demand and we appreciate that you spend some of it with us. We hope our tales will inspire you and our tips will help you save some money when planning your trips. If you’re a first-time visitor, welcome! Please sign up to receive our posts in your inbox (free – no strings attached) – the sign up box is on the home page, fill in your email address, then you will get an email from Feedburner asking you to verify that you want the posts – do so and they will start appearing as emails. Or for the bloggers out there, you can find us on Bloglovin’. Hope you’ll all be back regularly!

I know the feeling of traveler's block from a 2-week trip so I can't imagine what you must be going through. What an awesome trip you had and II'm looking forward to the stories. I spent part of my honeymoon 13 years ago in Sydney and I've been trying to find a way to get back.

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TravelnWrite is

. . . about chasing a daydream. We are boomer ex pats from America's Pacific Northwest who decided to grow olives in Greece instead of old at home. Come join us as we discover the wonders of our new world. We are vagabonds at heart and keep our bags packed and ready to explore new lands! Come. . .join us on a journey through life.

The Scout and The Scribe

Joel's 'The Scout', who scouts out travel deals and destinations.
Jackie's 'The Scribe', who writes the tales and tips we've gathered on our travels.
Together, we are boomer-aged American's who've just become full-time ex pats living in the Greek Peloponnese. In addition to our travel adventures we now grow olives - we preferred that to simply 'growing old.'
We live in a small Greek village in an area calledThe Mani, on the Peloponnese peninsula.
We've lived a nomadic-lifestyle for two decades and finally decided to have a 'final fling' on this side of the Atlantic.
We chased our daydream and caught it. It can be done ~ and through this blog we hope to inspire you to go after yours whether real or from your armchair!
Have a question? Just want to chat? You can reach us at: travelnwrite@msn.com

Why Read TravelnWrite?

"Thank you so much for the post about us! We had internet today and thoroughly enjoyed reading about us - you did an excellent job of summarizing our crazy life," Doug and Carla, writers and sailors, @ Following Moondance blog, South Pacific

"We have enjoyed your blog entry so much, Jackie and Joel. It seems you have captured the essence of our existence perfectly, and you make us proud of the life we've created here in Mykonos." -- Jody Duncan and Nikos Hristodoulakis, The Piano Bar, Mykonos, Greece

"I love following you because you keep introducing me to things in Washington I've never seen or heard of even though I lived there for nine years. :-)" -- Krista @ Rambling Tart blog, Australia

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It's All About Travel. . .

TravelnWrite is about choosing to 'live differently' in retirement. We two 60-something Americans chose to move to Greece and grove olives instead of growing old in the Seattle suburbs. A year later we replanted our part-time roots in rural Washington State. Here we tell tales we hope will inspire you to chase your daydreams as well.

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Travelnwrite is about Travelin' Right!

In our 38 years together, we've logged thousands of air and sea miles exploring far-away and close-to-home destinations. We quit our '8 - 5' jobs twenty years ago. . .long before retirement age.

After living out of carry-on sized suitcases for more than a third of the year we decided to straddle the Atlantic and have part-time roots in two places (which makes for carry-on sized bags).

We split our at-home time between Washington State, in the United State's Pacific Northwest and our home on a hill above Agios Dimitrias, a small village in The Mani, a part of Greek's Peloponnese. (We decided to grow olives instead of old!)

Joel, The Scout, is the deal finder; deals which often prompt the destination.

Jackie, The Scribe and photographer, is a freelance writer/photographer whose articles are found in:

Print and On-Line Publications including:

* The Oregonian

* Seattle Times

* KirklandViews

* AAA's Puget Sound Journey

* RealFoodTraveler

Together we have created TravelnWrite, the online travel lifestyle magazine.

Our tales are designed to inspire those who travel independently and our tips on destinations and deals are meant to inform: how tocut costs and travel more for less. Those of you arm-chair travelers sit back and come along with us as we introduce you to interesting people and explore new places along the way.

Our trips are not freebies - we pay our way around the world. On rare occasion our travels are hosted and will be noted as such on the post about them. The opinions and observations, recommendations and reviews we write are purely our own.

Our unstructured, independent travel-style isn't for everyone. Nor is our approach to cost-cutting. Everyone has their own comfort level - both mentally and physically.

To reach us write: travelnwrite@msn.com. Better yet, leave a comment so that all readers can benefit from your tips and tales as well!

And if you happen to be someplace in the world where we are, come up and introduce yourself to us!! We'd love to meet you!